Children's home run by Witherslack Group Limited in Westmorland and Furness

Inspection report children’s home: SC480422 1 SC480422 Registered provider: Witherslack Group Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

A private organisation operates this children’s home. The service is registered to accommodate up to eight young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 20 to 21 November 2017

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

p.1

outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

p.1

outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

p.1

outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC480422 2

p.1

Key findings from this inspection

This children’s home is outstanding because:

p.2

Key findings from this inspection

 The home is effectively managed in the best interest of young people. The manager provides excellent leadership that enables staff to deliver a high- quality service.  Young people, many who have had poor life experiences, settle and adopt more socially acceptable lifestyles. They re-engage with their education and learn to develop social skills through the vast range of new experiences and activities on offer. This also helps to build young people’s self-esteem and confidence.  The safety of young people is paramount and integral to daily practice. Staff demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the young people in their care. They provide tailored support and guidance that is enabling young people to better manage and reduce the risks associated with going missing and causing criminal damage.  Professional development is encouraged and promoted well. The staff embrace changes in working practices, and are becoming more skilled in their approach

p.2

Key findings from this inspection

to young people. They are innovative in their approach and passionate about doing their very best for the young people in their care.  Staff are skilled at helping young people to understand their behaviours and self-regulate their emotions. There are good incentive and reward schemes for positive behaviour. Negative behaviour is proportionately challenged, and is used as an opportunity to learn.  Young people are thriving as a result of being cared for by a stable and experienced staff team whose members are exceptionally committed, enthusiastic and good humoured. They have high aspirations and are eager for young people to succeed. Young people thus form strong relationships with staff and benefit greatly from having consistent, positive role models around them.  Feedback from professionals is extremely positive and highly complimentary about the services and support available in this home.  Exceptional monitoring of practice, both internally and externally, recognises

p.2

Key findings from this inspection

strengths and areas for continued development.  Staff are highly committed to developing existing practice in order to enhance the quality of service delivered to young people, such as recognising and supporting young people’s learning styles in order to empower them to learn better. Inspection report children’s home: SC480422 3 The children’s home’s areas for development:

p.2

Key findings from this inspection

 Promote more rigorous oversight and monitoring of safeguarding incidents, ensuring that where practicable conclusions are reached in a timely fashion and in the best interests of young people.  Ensure that timely action is taken to fix minor repairs to young people’s bedrooms in particular.

p.3

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 19/07/2016 Full Good 25/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 02/12/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC480422 4

p.3

Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

p.4

Recommendations

 Ensure that staff meet children’s basic day-to-day needs and physical necessities in a way that a good parent would, recognising that many children in residential care have experienced environments in which these needs have not been consistently met. Doing so is an important aspect of demonstrating that the staff care for the child and value them as an individual (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7). This is specifically in relation to staff supporting young people, when necessary, to fix minor repairs in a timely fashion and ensure there is adequate ventilation in the bedrooms.  Ensure that the home takes the initiative in identifying others such as Local Safeguarding Children Board and the police who must play a part for their children and engage with those relevant people proactively, advocating for the children in their care, particularly in response to safeguarding

p.4

Recommendations

allegations in order to minimise any unnecessary delays. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 12, paragraph 2.7)

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The home is currently at full capacity, with eight young people resident. Since the previous inspection, there have been two new admissions. The transition for both young people has been smooth and managed well through a careful matching and compatibility process, by way of pre-admission visits and meetings. As a result, young people have settled quickly into the routine of a nurturing home environment.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The high level of consistency and continuity of care that young people receive means that they develop trusting and lasting relationships that are strong enough to withstand any challenges or upsets. Staff use good skill in diffusing situations quickly. For example, one young person’s behaviour became heightened shortly afterhis return from school as he was eager to help prepare the evening meal and was becoming impatient. Staff used a very child-centred, nurturing approach to calm him down. Once he was able to do this, Inspection report children’s home: SC480422 5 the young person set about the task with great enthusiasm and was delighted with the end product.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people settle well into the home and report that they like living in the home and spending time with the staff. One young person, as part of a survey, commented that: ‘Staff look after me well. My key workers are like my family.’ Young people feel listened to and supported. This contributes to them being secure and safe.

p.5

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people benefit from well-planned care that is tailored to their individual and specific needs. The home’s records are of a high quality and provide insightful information into each young person’s past experiences, current needs and individual goals. These are regularly reviewed and updated, and are fully understood by staff who have high aspirations for the young people in their care. Strong partnerships with parents, carers and external professionals mean that there is a joined-up approach to care planning. This in turn ensures that young people receive an individualised programme of support, relative to their unique and specific needs. One social worker said, regarding the recent admission of a young person:

p.5

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

[The placement is] absolutely meeting his needs; the young person has done amazingly well to date with only one missing episode, at LAC [looked after child] review couldn’t believe how happy he looked, even his brother and sister commented they wouldn’t mind staying at Highfield house.

p.5

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Another social worker described the placement of a young person as ‘absolutely fantastic, and went on to say: ‘staff are able to motivate him and get him to see a positive future’.

p.5

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people engage in purposeful activities that are age-appropriate, risk-assessed and highly stimulating. They enjoy, for example, working on a local allotment as part of the allotment homework project and their achievements have included growing fruit and vegetables and selling homemade jams on to a homeless charity. There are plans to extend this in future by way of building a chicken coop on the allotment and buying chickens with a view to selling eggs in the local community. Young people love to explore farmland, build their own dens and roast marshmallows over the fire, while others are totally captivated by nature when observing a lamb being born.

p.5

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people show willingness to help others and contribute to the wider community. For example, young people and staff completed a 13-mile walk to raise money for the victims of the Manchester bombing.

p.5

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people benefit from regular therapeutic input and support; this gives them insight into their emotions and enables them to learn to self-regulate in a safe environment, thus facilitating progress in their psychological well-being.

p.5

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people are consulted well, both individually and collectively, through key-work sessions, young people’s meetings and surveys. This means that they are able to have their say and contribute to the day-to-day running of the home. For example, they Inspection report children’s home: SC480422 6 engage in ‘back to the future’ meetings, which offer excellent means of reflecting on the week’s events as they encourage the young people to express their feelings and ideas abouttheir particular hobbies and interests. These meetings are designed to enable young people to explore new experiences while maintaining a fun element. Young people subsequently learn new skills such as fishing and trampolining, to name a few, thus promoting their physical development, self-esteem and confidence.

p.5

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people’s health is well promoted within and outside the home. They attend all of their routine medical appointments. They are encouraged to take regular exercise and staff provide a wide variety of activities, both indoors and outdoors, which are tailored suit their particular interests, such as football, skateboarding, rugby and boxing. They take it in turns to devise the weekly menu, suggesting ideas of their own with a healthy, varied diet in mind. They each have the opportunity to prepare and cook meals, some of which have proved highly thought-provoking, such as the time when they dissected parts of an ox’s head and plucked the feathers of a pheasant. Young people thrive on such experiences and form positive social networks.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Staff have good understanding of the importance of young people maintaining contact with their families and other key people. Contact arrangements are clearly outlined in each young person’s care plan, and are fully supported by staff. Staff spend dedicated time helping young people to understand and manage the complexities of family relationships, and provide good support before, during and after contact. This contributes to making contact a positive experience for all those involved.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Excellent school attendance for the majority of young people placed signifies good progress when making comparisons to their starting points when first entering the home. This can only promote learning and improve young people’s life chances.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Most young people attend a local school that is owned by the organisation. Prior to placement, some young people experienced difficulties with managing a school placement, to the extent that they were refusing to attend. However, through dedicated staff input and support they have overcome these barriers. Young people have settled and their education attendance is excellent.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

There is close, daily communication between staff at the home and education staff, to ensure that any issues that have arisen in either setting are shared. Reports indicate that young people are making good progress. Where necessary, young people benefit from additional one-to-one support to improve on areas that they find difficult. From the latest school reports and analysis of data, the manager has identified the need to support some young people in their reading and literacy skills. One young person remarked that he wasn’t good at spelling, so there is to be increased input and focus on this in future.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

Young people learn to respect and value one another. For example, there is zero tolerance of bullying within the home. A young person within the group has been nominated as the ‘bullying champion’, and is proving to be a good asset and advocate in fulfilling this important role. Young people have designed their own posters that are displayed in the home ‘big, ugly, loner, losers, yearning attention’. One young person Inspection report children’s home: SC480422 7 shared with other young people his handwritten description ofthe impact that bullying can have on victims. This shows excellent insight and gives a powerful message to others that bullying is not acceptable.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

One young person was a victim of racist comments made by another young person during an altercation. This isolated incident was managed particularly well in that, in addition to individual key-work sessions taking place to address the concerns, a Jamaican-themed activity night was arranged to promote the need for young people to respect differences in our society, raise cultural awareness and promote diversity. Young people learned about traditional dress, sampled Jamaican food and listened to traditional Jamaican music. This proved to be a success. There are plans to incorporate and promote further awareness and understanding of cultures in future.

p.7

How well children and young people are helped and protected: outstanding

There are rigorous systems in place for keeping young people safe through individualised risk assessments and other means that are regularly reviewed and updated. Appropriate channels and procedures are followed in response to safeguarding incidents and allegations and there are clear records of events. There are well coordinated responses to missing episodes, which are few and far between. Staff training is refreshed regularly and staff understand their roles and responsibilities in keeping young people safe. Responses from young people and other professionals confirm that they feel the home is a safe place. Robust action is taken to minimise recurrences in order to keep young people safe. Through carefully planned key-work sessions, young people learn to reflect on their behaviours, particularly where there have been incidents that have put them or others at risk. For example, one young person who provoked an altercation with another young

p.7

How well children and young people are helped and protected: outstanding

person while being transported in the car, wrote his own reflection on the incident and demonstrated remorse for his actions:

p.7

How well children and young people are helped and protected: outstanding

When I look back on it I think it was a silly decision, I will not do it again. Because it is a moving vehicle it is very dangerous and not acceptable to jump in the back of the car and be aggressive to other peers. We could have crashed. It won’t happen again because it could have killed every one. I am sorry for what I did.

p.7

How well children and young people are helped and protected: outstanding

This has subsequently improved young people’s awareness of danger, and has resulted in a greater insight into the impact that their risky behaviours can have on themselves and others. As a result, young people are keeping themselves safe.

p.7

How well children and young people are helped and protected: outstanding

Behaviour management is strong within the home. Through the home’s excellent analysis of patterns and trends, there has been a noticeable reduction in the need to use physical intervention, which shows that de-escalation techniques are having a positive impact on young people. Incidents are well managed, monitored and evaluated by senior staff. Staff look for indicators, trends or patterns to enable the modification of behaviour management strategies. This helps to improve practice, and promotes consistency. The Inspection report children’s home: SC480422 8 debriefing sessions between young people and staff provide opportunities to explore and reflect on each incident in order to detect any lessons to be learned. The number of negative consequences has also significantly reduced, while rewards and incentives for good behaviour are on the increase. Young people, having recognised their wrongdoing, volunteer to make amends by, for example, purchasing cleaning materials and washing

p.7

How well children and young people are helped and protected: outstanding

Almost all of the staff have undertaken online training around radicalisation and extremism. Staff are to present this new learning to the young people as a means of raising their understanding and awareness in order to reduce any vulnerabilities. Child sexual exploitation risk-assessment tools have been completed for all young people. While there are no known current risks, staff continue to monitor for signs and indicators.

p.8

How well children and young people are helped and protected: outstanding

Young people live in a pleasant and homely house that is decorated and furnished to a high standard, and has all of the necessary safety checks and risk assessments in place. There are photographs displayed of young people, family and staff that give the home a personalised touch. Young people are encouraged to look after and take pride in their possessions. There is a reward each week for the best kept bedroom, which is a great incentive and confidence booster for the young people who receive this accolade. The bedrooms, in the main, were observed to be in a clean, tidy state and had been personalised by the young people. Young people learn to take responsibility for any damage caused through reparation work and receive awards for keeping their bedrooms tidy. This helps to promote high standards of cleanliness.

p.8

How well children and young people are helped and protected: outstanding

The home uses safe recruitment processes to ensure that any person employed to work at the home does not present any known safeguarding risk to young people. All of the necessary safety checks and risk assessments are in place regarding the premises.

p.8

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

This home is effectively run by a highly committed and passionate registered manager who drives a strong, child-focused approach to caring for young people. He holds a relevant qualification, and has the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to provide strong leadership for his stable and well-established staff team. He operates an open- door policy that is received well by staff, and promotes a positive culture of teamwork.

p.8

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The daily operation of the home works very well, due to the highly organised systems that are in place. Staff are adaptable and work very flexibly to meet the needs of, and support, young people. For example, as far as is practicable, and sometimes on their days off, staff will support young people in their chosen interests. One young person was excited about the prospect of going to watch Spurs play in a football match at Wembley Stadium. Others love to go fishing with a staff member who has a passion in this area. Young people benefit greatly from staff who are highly motivated, enthusiastic and good-humoured. Young people warm to the staff as a consequence, thus giving them the confidence to approach the staff should they have any worries or concerns. It is clear to see from the interactions observed such as at meal time, that young people Inspection report children’s home: SC480422 9 enjoy being in the company of staff, who they look up to for guidance and support. This

p.8

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

promotes a happy, relaxed environment that encourages respect, communication and open dialogue with each other.

p.9

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home’s development plan is comprehensively detailed and reflects the current needs of the home. The plan clearly links to shortfalls and areas for improvement identified through rigorous monitoring activity, and the needs of young people as identified through care planning. The staff team embrace the home’s development plan and therefore sharethe manager’s commitment to an agenda of continuous improvement. Staff are in the process of implementing resilience and social development profiles that will enable the clear tracking of young people’s progress in these areas.

p.9

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff have access to a good range of training opportunities that enable them to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to support young people. This includes needs-specific training, such as radicalisation and child sexual exploitation, as well as the standard mandatory courses, such as safeguarding, behaviour management and restraint. They are also highly committed to developing existing practice in order to enhance the quality of service delivered to young people, such as recognising and supporting young people’s learning styles so that they are empowered to learn better.

p.9

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff keep abreast of research-based topics and embed new learning into practice, for example by using tools to assess young people’s resilience and identity in order to help them, through tailored support, to recover from difficult childhood experiences. The input young people receive has contributed to a reduction in negative incidents. The manager tests the skills and competencies of his staff through regular training, supervision and appraisals. The staff confirm that team meetings are creative and interactive, and enhance their knowledge of guidance, research and legislation.

p.9

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home has a good record of compliance. All requirements and recommendations made at the last inspection have been fully addressed. This has resulted in improvements being made to individual risk assessments, with the staff team exercising extra vigilance in making sure that, based on past and present information, known triggers for behaviours are identified and appropriate control measures put in place. Medication procedures are now consistently followed, with stronger management oversight and monitoring of practice in this area.

p.9

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

In addition to this, a number of new developments, initiatives and changes to practice have been introduced. These include improvements to behaviour management and support strategies.

p.9

Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the differences made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care Inspection report children’s home: SC480422 10 provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and young people and their families. In addition, the inspectors have tried to understand what the children’s home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people whom it is trying to help, protect and look after.

p.9

Information about this inspection

Using the ‘Social care common inspection framework’, this inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: SC480422 11

p.10

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Witherslack Group Ltd

p.11

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Witherslack Group, Lupton Tower, Lupton, Carnforth LA6 2PR

p.11

Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Marcia McLoughlin

p.11

Inspector

Michael Charnley: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC480422 12 achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

p.11

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.12

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.12

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.12